Saturday 29 November 2008

In Ascending Order

Listening To: the rustle of my inspirational magazine as i riffle to the inspirational page.

today i'm making music. tonight, i'm avoiding X Factor, lest it destroy my faith in a music business with integrity.

so far, so good.

Wondering: whether or not to take the dog out in this freeze.

Friday 28 November 2008

3rd Rock From The Sun

Listening To: the birds outside my house. it's very quiet. almost... too quiet.
Watching: the birds outside my house. in my defense, i'm helping the dog Look at them. it's what he likes to do of an afternoon.

i don't like to be topical, but what the fuck is up with the V.A.T. change?

that is all.

Pondering: whether The Universe cares about anything or if it's just content to keep on existing, or what
Bordering On: nihilism? no thanks, but i can see the appeal.

Thursday 27 November 2008

Meanwhile, On Experiments In Musicality...

I Have: too many web-outlets (or should that be weblets?)
Miniplug For: anguaji-music.blogspot.com

.crossover-o-rama:

have compiled interesting ideas concerning:

ambient choons
xen cuts (my favourite album at the moment)
soft tone guitar jazz
hip hop and flamenco
flamenco finger rolls (sounds like a snack, but it's so much harder to do than it is to say)
the flamenco guitar sounding so lovely


...flamenco being a big part in the ideas thing.

so when i said in jest that i was in a collection phase, i was being more truthful than my roguish smile belied.

also - and this is a very late addition to this list - i think i need to put more energy into my music. i love my chilled-out a lot (i'm a great believer in the Archetype, and i'm always looking for the Archetype Chill Track) but i think i need to up my bpm for a month and see what happens.

guh - there's too much going on in my head. i denied myself a weekend of music on saturday last, in favour of socialising - i'm like a little sim character with levels that are all dropping constantly at the moment, i think i need a week to myself to replenish them all, also one of those big beds from the sims that are, like, +10 rest or whatever - so i think i'm going to end up in an unhealthy 72hoursolidmusicfest this coming friday.

so. i'll post the results, naturally.


Thought You'd Be Interested In: musical shenanighenz
Normal Service: will be resumed when something happens

Tuesday 25 November 2008

Sane Men Surround

Reading: about openID's - good concept, but in practice, does it compromise personal identity? ah, just like the internet communism.

i'm killing 18 minutes waiting for my Cadbury's brownies to cook. as we all know, waiting for cakes in the oven is a universal time-slowing convention that should be researched - the scientific possibilites are enormous.

world peace brought about by Cadbury's brownie mix? when we think of the Bush administration, it's not such a crazy idea.

Thinking About: leaving off the satire, it's not my forte.
Also Thinking About: building a forte out of pillows.

Thursday 20 November 2008

Snowboarding Roadtrip

Listening To: my patience with the Now 71 advert dwindle into a small puff of air.
Watching: my laptop-xbox stack with a strange mixture of pride and OCD-inspired fretting about the wires sticking out the side.

many a wonderment to be had - so a structured, but not bulleted, list is called for:

point one: stephen fry is following me on twitter. and i'm following him, obviously. this is one of the most queer internet-based feelings i think i've ever had, as stephen fry is something of an intellectual pop-culture hero to me. to sum it up - it's like a certain star trek character phoning up my 14-year-old self and telling me how their day was. i won't reveal which character, though. i have to have some privacy after all.

point two: xbox 360 update-o-rama, much. neat new redesign of familar old interface to emulate the wii. this point is actually preceded by point two beta, which is me making my xbox 360 wireless without forking out pocketfuls of cash for the micro$oft wireless bridge. did you see that? i said micro$oft. with a $$$. what a subversive scamp i am. so now i present you with my first screenshots thereof fully hencewith:


^ hey, for once, it took no time to download - thanks m$! (titt3r)


^ the digitized look of smugness as a girl is allowed to update her xbox without having to bugger about with 100ft of cat5 cable can be a terrible sight to behold

point three: i made my fancy-schmancy website live. i won't go into detail how clever it is because i've managed to create a stylish, standards-based, developer-baffling microsite that fits on one, plush, page. or maybe i just did. but anyway, i'm quite proud of it - i managed to make myself a happy customer, so i'm going to recommend me to my friends and family.

point four: i'm sure there was a point four

point five: i'm in the middle of a few days off, so rest assured of more bloggy goodness to follow. possibly with more humour. less content, more comedy - have you noticed?

Oh God Moment: comic book guy in the simpsons just spouted some serious geekspiel and i understood every single hideous tech-infested word of it.
Now I Remember Point Four: but i'm not going to tell you.

Tuesday 18 November 2008

American Dad

Life Slowly Taken Over By: web standards.

can't talk. banter not standards compliant.

Humming Sound Probably Coming From: speakers left on all day, but who knows - maybe the dog has learnt to hum.
Worrying About: random thoughts that involve falling over in every situation.
Five Days Away From My Lovely Blog: and this is the best i can come up with?

Thursday 13 November 2008

Discotron

Listening To: the gas fire put-put-put - quite an adrenaline ride, our gas fire. it manages to convey the impression that it could blow at any moment.

the dog is systematically destroying any remaining keepsakes from my childhood. so far, in his short 6-month stay with me, he's chewed the eyes off my beloved A.G. bear, the hair off my favourite wish troll (before they were wish trolls, you know), the beak off an owl statue, and Straggle's nose. Straggle is just about the cutest looking teddy critter in the world, and now he just sort of looks... eerie. anyway, if he doesn't have any nose, how does he sme-

Thank God For: the blog-discipline to not finish the great british nose joke.

Wednesday 12 November 2008

Jungle Beats/Jungle Bass

Listening To: Headz 2B - a Mowax compilation that sourced my trip-hop immersion. potentially, it could make my career, you know. don't worry, i'll write it all up in my autobigraphy.

well, it's heroes night. heroes for me is the only tv programme on terrestrial that kinda-nearly fills the windswept void left by buffy (no, i still haven't quite got over it). the happiness is muted somewhat thanks to the unbelievably derivative writing, which plays out more like a round of "spot the origin" every wednesday, but still - it's better than eastenders, or screaming at "dr ian" (what a twat) on the eggheads spinoff.

Completely Bemused By: eggheads spinoff
Innermost Circle Of Hell Reserved For: people who pointedly use their doctorate salutation in casual situations
Heroes-rip-spotting: Star Wars dark side allusions / long lost fathers; X Men 3

Monday 10 November 2008

Just Shoot Me

Listening To: a trailer for the new Indy film. i don't think i could make myself more uninterested if i... i... er... something... witty... sardonic... meltdown...
Watching: my empty plate with an expression of sadness and grief.

today, great things are abound. no, really - abound.

not only is this the week that projects are going to be cleared off the metaphorical board with the greatest of ease [never has a line inspired so much tempting of fate], but i see the way clear for areas of Personal Life [different from .blog_life only because it's less organised and updates more often] to be tidied and trimmed and generally topiary-ed.

instinctively, i felt that french toast must play a part in this New Order. and thus, french toast was made:





it played a particularly tasty part of the New Order, actually, and i might repeat this step another time. plus, you can't change your life on an empty stomach, hey?

Boxers Are Cool: for morning house-wanders, whilst pondering your gender identity.

Saturday 8 November 2008

Mad Blunted Jazz

Listening To: the pipes that run through my bathroom.
Wondering About: how to swallow my britishness and talk myself up in my forthcoming site.

if i was a topical blogger, i could remark on any number of things that have occured recently. luckily, this is more of a space to let the head unwind, and very few global issues trouble me sorely before i go to sleep at night, whereas small, personal problems vex me hugely. like when i'm going to turn the mattress over to avoid the sticky-uppy spring. also the state of my bedroom wall troubles me. i'm a very immediate worrier; it would take me quite a run-up to worry about anything bigger than this house.

lucky for you, gentle reader, that i'm in a relaxed mood, hey?

i have noticed (she said, fussing irritably with her duvet) that "mobile technology" and "wireless" can so often be synonyms for "uncomfortable body" and "awkward hands in process of aquiring rsi". while there's something about this wireless concept that makes me go a little crazy, carrying my acer round the house from room to room tucked proudly under my arm, once i finally rest myself and prepare to browse/view/read/work, i find that conventional furniture is not built for such activities. my mother spent a good two hours of net-time on this acer a few nights ago (while i attempted to interest her in my new copy of police squad. it's hard being an only child) and she adopted several increasingly tortured positions whilst browsing. she enjoyed herself immensely though, so i don't know what that says, really.

i'm not going to speculate further, though, on how the body may change to suit technology rather than the other way around, because that lends itself to yet another distopian slant, and i think there's far too much of that going on these days.

Do Androids Dream Of: being mechanical sausage rolls
I, Wireless: my dog has just walked straight over the top of me. more fool me?
Yes, Of Course I'm Happy About: the black guy getting in. but i'm always looking for The Catch. i'm suspicious of anyone who seems too good to be true...
Horoscope Angst: "It takes a lot less energy to explore the unknown than you might think." - no it doesn't. change is tiring. and tedious. and unsettling. i wish everything could stay the same. forever. especially the internet.

Tuesday 4 November 2008

Sunday 2 November 2008

Carpel Tunnel Syndrome

Listening To: the dog, snoring.
Thinking About: what i'm going to watch as i work today - it's a choice between Animaniacs and Weeds. Oddly, i find Animaniacs too distracting to have on while i work.

blackboards are fun. everyone wanted to be the blackboard wiping-off type person, way back in The Learning Years. i've found that this tight little thrill of misplaced responsibilty can be yours again, by purchasing a cheap-as-chips child's blackboard and chalk set from your nearest seller of tat. ostensibly, the blackboard is an innovative way for me to design code without using up reams of the world's natural resources. it's true, i code faster than they can replace the rainforests, although i'm sure my clients would disagree with me there. so, answer to the problem: blackboard.

i'm thinking about getting a whiteboard so the ethnic balance is maintained. ha. ha.

but enough of this edgy post-ironic humour.

i've been out and about again (still no free wi-fi in my favourite bar yet though, boo hiss) just to prove to myself that there is an outside world, athough i'm still not convinced that it's any better than the world inside my head.

in this time of solid work, my brief excursions into the (alleged) Real World prove many interesting points:

1) girls are as silly when they grow up as they are when they're silly girl-children.
2) people consume way too much alcohol in this nation. a few nights ago, the Gang spent two hours observing a young lady repeatedly falling over and staggering gracelessly from one side of the pavement to the other. she was bouncing around like a humourous bouncing thing when some (presumably) kind gentleman ushered her into a taxi. go Team Alcohol UK.
3) Things are expensive, but i like to buy Things anyway.
4) a squishy mushroom keyring is a foolish thing to buy when one owns a dog that is only happy when it's chewing.
5) i hate paying taxes.

Sitting, Waiting, Wishing: that my router would stop playing silly buggers
Bathroom Author Of The Hour: Terry Pratchett.